The Inner Circle (38 page)

Why do people even care about things that happen in other countries? They're like millions of miles away from us anyway.

The only time Colin was entertained by the news was when they showed footage from foreign countries and he saw how funny other people dressed. But the news program that was on now was only showing a group of people talking – more like arguing – about what was going on in the world.

The headline at the bottom of the screen read: WHAT WILL THE IMPACT BE OF THE PRESIDENT'S DISMANTLING OF NASA AND FORMATION OF NASSA?

Colin did not know what the word dismantling meant, but he assumed it meant that they were getting rid of NASA. The story about the rocket ship blowing up had been all over the news earlier. That story showed footage of the ship being shot into outer space, the sight of which at least kept Colin's attention. But there was not even any footage of the spacecraft blowing up, which Colin thought would have been pretty cool to see. This show had
nothing
interesting to see, just a few people sitting around.

"Of course this is an idiotic idea," argued one of the television men, a strange looking bald man. "NASA has been around for years, it's one of the most recognizable and respected agencies in the United States. Now for a president – who is still in his first few years of being office – to disband it and set up a new agency – NASSA with 2 Ss, a dumb name in itself – this is just crazy. I don't know where President Marshall comes off thinking he can do something like this."

The camera panned over to an attractive older woman and Colin wondered why they would let such a pretty girl talk about news.

"For once in our lives, I agree with Bill," the woman said, eliciting a chuckle from the previous speaker. "There are so many arguments against how Marshall is trying to start a new agency, but there is one topic that just completely blows his credibility right out of the water. A super-gigantic space station? Where normal human beings can live in outer space? Come on, Mr. President, turn the TV off of Star Trek and let's start worrying about other things. If you really wanted a challenge, you could try to mend fences between China and Russia, who seem to grow closer to war with each passing week."

A black man wearing glasses was the last of the three panel members to chime in on this topic.

"I have a different opinion on this than the two of you. I actually have no problem with what the president is doing," he stated. When he made this opinion known, the other two people looked like a pair lions waiting to pounce on a wounded gazelle. "Let me explain why. First of all, like the president said, NASA costs far too much money for what we get out of it. Sure, it's a respected agency, but the new NASSA will be run by the same James Armour who ran the old NASA. And you laugh at the idea of a giant space station, referring to it as a Star Trek fantasy. Is that what you said, Linda?"

"Yes, but – "

"That is the old way of thinking," the black man interrupted, not allowing the woman to finish her thought. "You can not dismiss such a bold idea as being science fiction based solely on the opinion that it can not be accomplished. As President Marshall said in his speech, bold men make bold decisions. If we wish to continue taking steps forward in our country, then NASA should be taking steps forward as well."

"But come on, a space station? Building a space station will likely cost the taxpayers as much, if not
more
money than they are already shell out every year. How can this possibly prove beneficial to America? If you ask me, this is just a case of a media-hungry president making a hugely mistaken move to get himself more in the limelight than he already is," argued the bald man.

The discussion was really begin to heat up now and Colin could not help but be reminded of two boys in his gym class had argued last school year about the results of a game of dodge ball.

"How can you know this project won’t have any benefits?" the pro-station reporter countered. "If this space station is built, it will be the greatest engineering and construction accomplishment in the history of the world. That alone will be a true mark of the greatness of our country. Besides that, the president said the Defense Department would control the new NASSA. I think that proves there will be other uses for the station, uses that would surely help in protecting our country."

"And how would a space station do that?" the woman asked, her voice oozing with contemptuous sarcasm. “By shooting laser beams down at our enemies?”

"Linda, I could not tell you that for sure. But do you really think President Marshall would throw away his entire political future if there were not any benefits to be gained from this project?"

The TV screen switched to a fourth person who Colin had yet to see.

"Time will have to tell on that," this last person said, clearly trying to avoid choosing sides. "We have to take a quick commercial break and then we'll be right back."

Blah, blah, blah,
Colin thought. If he had been awake before, five minutes of listening to these people argue was certainly enough to make Colin want to go back to bed. After all, lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling couldn't possibly be worse than watching the boring people on TV. He lowered the volume on the television a little more, enough so he would be sure not to hear it from his room.
If only there was a mute button for my father's snoring...

Colin fetched an old blanket from the closet and draped it over his father, who wasn’t likely to wake up before morning. He grabbed as many of the beer cans as his arms could carry and threw them away in the kitchen. He considered going back for the rest of them, but figured there would be plenty of time to clean up his father's mess the next day. For now, he was tired and just wanted to go back to bed.

-         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -        -        -

Earl Ackerman could hardly pay attention to the man in the white lab coat who sat on the end of the bench. It was such a beautiful day outside, the sun shining down, not a single cloud in the blue sky. He wished he could spend the whole day in the fresh air, but he knew his time outside was limited. After all, when he was outside, the government wouldn’t be able to hear anything he was saying. The outside world was just too big for them to set up enough electronic bugs to spy on him.

They could've put one in that tree over there if they really wanted to...

"Mr. Ackerman. Mr. Ackerman. Could you please pay attention to me?"

Earl turned his gaze away from the nearby tree and rested it upon the face of Dr. Jones, the head psychiatrist at Mimosa Grove.

"I'm sorry. I was just looking at that tree over there," Earl answered honestly. "I took for granted being able to go outside whenever I wanted before I was forced to enter this wonderful establishment."

"And why do you think you were forced?"

Earl looked at the doctor skeptically.

"Are you a government agent?" Earl asked.

"No," Dr. Jones answered, writing something down in a folder. "I am Dr. Edward Jones. I've told you this before, Mr. Ackerman. Don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember," Earl answered, annoyed that this quack was talking to him like he was three years old. "I'm not crazy, I just don't know if I can trust you or not. You would have to tell me if you were a government agent, wouldn't you?"

"I would imagine so," Dr. Jones responded. "But why would a government agent pose as a doctor trying to help you?"

"Because of what I know. Because of the secret that only I and a few top people in the government know. They want to make sure to keep me quiet about the comet, that's why they put me in here."

Earl had given up on keeping the secret ever since he broke out of his room and told the patient staying in the room next to his. The young man had been Earl's only hope, but his carefully laid out plan of informing the public about the comet and his imprisonment had crashed down around him.
Who knew the government would be smart enough to place one of their agents in the room right next to mine?

"Okay, we'll move on to something a bit easier," Dr. Jones said. "Tell me. How do you think your life would be going if you weren't a visitor at Mimosa Grove?"

"Prisoner, doc, not visitor. Let's just get that straight. But if I wasn't here? I think I would be doing just peachy, as long as the mission to deflect the comet was going as originally planned," he said.

Jones looked into his folder again, rifling through papers until he found what he was looking for.

"About that mission. I see here that you think the probe that was sent into space yesterday had a man on board. This ship was supposed to destroy a killer comet?"

             
"Not destroy, doc. Deflect, there's a difference. And no, I didn't think that."

Jones looked down into his folder again.

"That's the statement you made to multiple nurses," the doctor said. "Don't you remember telling them that?"

"Of course I do. I said I didn't
think
that was the plan, I
know
that was the plan. And it had better work, too. That probe is the only chance for Earth’s survival," Earl said emphatically. At this point, he knew that telling the doctor about Comet Clement would not help him get out of Mimosa Grove any sooner. But it probably wouldn’t hurt, either. Besides, talking about the secret – especially when there was little fear of bugs in his current surroundings – still felt like taking a giant weight off his shoulders. And even if the government did know he was talking, they apparently were not doing anything to punish him for doing so.

"I need to tell you something very important, Mr. Ackerman. And I need you to listen very closely and believe what I tell you," Dr. Jones said, closing the folder and putting it down on the bench. Earl noticed that the man also had a newspaper sitting next to him.

"Go ahead, this should be good," Earl said, interested in what the man had to say.

"There was no man in the probe. There is no killer comet. And the world is not ending," Jones said, keeping his voice calm and even-toned. Earl could only shake his head at the man's naïveté and he looked back at the tree, which he found much more interesting. "Mr. Ackerman, if you ever wish for your stay at Mimosa Grove to come to an end, you have to let go of this nonsense."

"I wish it was that easy, but I know about the probe. I just hope, for my sake, for your sake and for the rest of the world's sake, that the mission is a success."

"I think you should see this," Dr. Jones said, picking up the newspaper and handing it over.

Earl read the headline on the front page of that day's
New York Times
: PROBE LOST, PRESIDENT TO OVERHAUL NASA. He reread it multiple times, feeling more faint each time his eyes skimmed over those six words.

This can't be. How could this have happened? It has to be some sort of trick.

Earl threw the newspaper at the doctor and turned back towards the tree.

"You aren't fooling me that easily," Earl screamed at the tree, as he was now rather certain the government must be able to hear his words. "This is a joke. This is one of those joke newspapers with a fake headline."

"Mr. Ackerman, this is no joke, I can assure you," Dr. Jones said, handing the newspaper back to Earl. Earl could not believe the supposed 'doctor' was telling him the truth, but his curiosity made him take the newspaper and look it over yet again. If it was a fake, they sure did a good job.

"It has to be fake," Earl said quieter, trying more to convince himself than Dr. Jones. "I mean, how could the probe have been destroyed?"

"They aren't sure yet," the doctor said. "But it was all over the news yesterday."

Earl continued to study the paper when he saw a picture of a familiar face at the bottom of the front page. It was a picture of Henry Wilson, one of the very few members of the 'Inner Circle.'

What is Henry doing in...

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DEAD FROM HEART ATTACK

"No, no, no," Earl said, as he began to read the story of Henry Wilson's death.

"U.S. Secretary of Defense Henry Wilson died yesterday in his vacation home from a massive heart attack. Wilson was appointed to President Marshall's cabinet two and a half years ago, after the former Congressman considered a bid for the presidency. His death came on the same day as the destruction of the deep-space vehicle prototype..."

Earl could not believe his eyes. He had always been under the impression that Henry Wilson was the least important member of the 'Inner Circle,' but his death – now along with the death of the astronaut on board the probe – meant the secret group's numbers were dwindling at a frighteningly quick pace. Wilson's death seemed to come at a very strange time, too, so soon after Earl opened his mouth and began telling people about the comet.

That's it
, Earl figured out
. They killed Henry Wilson. The 'Inner Circle' killed Henry Wilson as a warning to me...

"Nooo," he yelled, crumpling the newspaper into a ball and running away from the bench. Dr. Jones had not expected Earl to jump up and run away. He called for the orderlies, worried that Earl would have a head start if he decided to run away from the facility. But Earl didn’t run far, as he stopped a few feet away in front of the nearby tree. Dr. Jones was surprised to see the patient throw the newspaper at the tree and unleash a torrent of obscenities in its direction. Although the words Earl had been saying definitely raised warning bells about the level of his sanity, Jones thought the man had at least seemed calm and somewhat rationale before this outburst.